Etymology

pareidolia

par·ei·do·lia
P3A1R1E1I1D2O1L1I1A1

Today it means: The tendency to interpret a vague stimulus as something known to the observer, such as interpreting marks on Mars as canals, seeing shapes in clouds, or hearing hidden messages in music. Full definition →

German Pareidolie ← Ancient Greek παρα-
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπαρα-“alongside”
  2. German · borrowed fromPareidolie
  3. English todaypareidolia

Borrowed from German Pareidolie, constructed from Ancient Greek παρα- (para-, “alongside”) + εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “image”) + -ία (-ía). By surface analysis, par- + eidolia.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekπαρα- all →

parameterpara-paracosm

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.